I haven't heard about this rumor, but I know ASME doesn't ever say anything about what an electrode manufacturer is allowed to make or not. My guess would be that some manufacturers may choose to discontinue stocking it due to lower demand than they would like. Most people probably use 9018-B3 instead of 9018-B3L since the L reduces high temperature strength. (speculation on my part) However, most manufacturers will make things they have discontinued stocking if you place a special order (which will probably require a minimum quantity). There are also smaller manufacturers that will make just about anything you want in quantities you want.

This started a few years ago. The popular electrodes for welding 1.25% Cr and 2.25% Cr materials (P4 and P5A) are alloys B2 and B2L for the P4 materials and B3 and B3L for the P5A materials. In the latest issues of AWS A5.5 and 5.28, all of the "L" grade rods and electrodes have been downgraded by 10,000 psi in the required tensile.

Here are the changes:
E8018-B2L is now E7018-B2L
E9018-B3L is now E8018-B3L
ER80S-B2L is now ER70S-B2L
ER90S-B3L is now ER80S-B3L

The B2 and B3 alloys did not change nor did the B2L and B3L in AWS 5.29 for flux core wires. They are still 80 or 90 thousand tensile as before.

Marty

Just a couple of observations: E9018-B3L is not covered by SFA 5.5. What SFA number allows the use of this filler metal?

One thing to consider when doing any jurisdictional repairs; see note W7 in ASME Section IID, Table 1A: "When used in a situation where the temperature is above 850F, filler metal must have carbon content >0.05%." When you are using P5A base materials (and some others) this starts to become important.

There are a number of "L" designated filler metals that allow carbon content as low as 0.05%. Unless you have actual certs on the wire you use, showing carbon greater than 0.05%, those fillers may not be suitable. It may be necessary to go to B9 filler for some of your applications. By the way, I learned this the hard way. Charles Hall